For the 1,000 artists who will be participating in the annual event this weekend – some of whom have been involved since the 1960s – that's like the first Christmas without Dad.

"This is going to be a very emotional time for a lot of people," says Tony Trischka, the bluegrass banjo virtuoso from Fair Lawn, who will be appearing at the two-day festival along with a galaxy of music stars: Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Rufus Wainwright, Richard Thompson, Tom Paxton, Guy Davis, Holly Near, Buckwheat Zydeco, David Bromberg, Dave Amram, Bettye LaVette and Jay Ungar & Molly Mason among them.

Missing this year, however, will be the two famed founders of the well-known music and folk-culture event. Pete Seeger and his wife Toshi died a half-year apart: Toshi on July 9, 2013, and Pete on Jan. 27 of this year.

Though not necessarily in the star spot, Seeger had performed every year since the festival was founded in 1966, as part of a grassroots effort to clean up the polluted Hudson River. And the values the festival celebrates – simple living, communal music-making and responsible stewardship of the Earth — will forever be associated with Seeger, the folk musician ("Turn! Turn! Turn!" "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?") and social activist who left a huge imprint on the culture.

So in a real sense, there will never be a Clearwater Festival without the Seegers.

"This festival is all about celebrating the legacies of Pete and Toshi," says festival director Steve Lurie. "The attitude here is not mournful, it's celebratory. I actually envision it as a New Orleans Second Line funeral."

In New Orleans, as you may know, the departed are launched into the next world with a joyous jazz-band parade. And the Clearwater Festival – proper name, the Great Hudson River Revival – certainly has the musical talent to give the Seegers a whale of a sendoff. But whatever tributes happen this weekend, tuneful or otherwise, expect them to be seemly, Lurie says.

"They were very modest people, and they didn't even want to be known as the founders of Clearwater," Lurie says. "They always stood in the background; it was never about them. I think if we did something overt, like having their face on a T-shirt with the dates, for instance, that's something they wouldn't have appreciated. We want to honor them in a tasteful way."

This year, the 508-acre Croton Point Park on the Hudson waterfront will feature the usual mix of music, food, fun and consciousness-raising: seven stages ("all biodiesel or solar powered," Lurie says) with 100 music acts, a "handcrafter village" with 60 to 70 artisans, a "Green Living Expo," kid activities and rides on boats, kayaks and tall ships that include the famous sloop Clearwater, symbol of environmental cleanup. "This whole thing started in the 1960s as a fundraiser to build the sloop Clearwater," Lurie says.

Special activities

But there will also be a couple of special activities in commemoration of the Seegers. A special square dance, "because that's how they met," Lurie says. A program of songs Seeger wrote for the Spanish Civil War volunteers of the 1930s. And just about all of the performers are likely to mention the Seegers, or pay tribute to them in one way or other. Certainly, Trischka will.

"I think his absence will inform a lot of what we do," Trischka says. "Any sing-along that happens, that will be because of Pete. Cleaning up after the festival, that's because of Pete."

His own appearance at the festival, 2:15 p.m. Saturday on the Sloop Stage, will be more Pete-centric than most. "A Banjo Tribute to Pete" is a workshop featuring musicians Trischka, Tom Chapin, Cathy Fink, Travis Jeffrey and Guy Davis (mourning his own recent death in the family: Actress Ruby Dee was his mother). "We'll all sing a Pete song, or a song associated with Pete," Trischka says.

His own connection with Seeger goes back more than 30 years – or more than 50, if you consider that Seeger's book "How to Play the 5-String Banjo" influenced him mightily when he was 13. They actually met in the 1980s, and Trischka (himself a Grammy nominee) had been tight with him ever since. He'll be doing another Seeger event June 27 in Washington, D.C.: the "Smithsonian Folkways Tribute to Pete Seeger, Citizen Artist."

Trischka was with Seeger in January when he played what was, likely, his last tune. At any rate, Seeger was rushed to the hospital the next day.

What he remembers, more than anything, is the genuineness of the man: whether strumming his instrument, or championing the environment.

One time the two of them were leaving a recording session – it was on a residential street – and Seeger spied a broken headlight near some shrubs. He walked over, retrieved it and went back to his car.

"He sat down with the headlight in his lap," Trischka recalls. "I said, 'Pete, do you want me to take care of that?' He said, 'As long as you dispose of it properly.' He would have driven back home with the headlight in his lap. ... He walked the walk."

For the 1,000 artists who will be participating in the annual event this weekend – some of whom have been involved since the 1960s – that's like the first Christmas without Dad.

"This is going to be a very emotional time for a lot of people," says Tony Trischka, the bluegrass banjo virtuoso from Fair Lawn, who will be appearing at the two-day festival along with a galaxy of music stars: Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Rufus Wainwright, Richard Thompson, Tom Paxton, Guy Davis, Holly Near, Buckwheat Zydeco, David Bromberg, Dave Amram, Bettye LaVette and Jay Ungar & Molly Mason among them.

Missing this year, however, will be the two famed founders of the well-known music and folk-culture event. Pete Seeger and his wife Toshi died a half-year apart: Toshi on July 9, 2013, and Pete on Jan. 27 of this year.

Though not necessarily in the star spot, Seeger had performed every year since the festival was founded in 1966, as part of a grassroots effort to clean up the polluted Hudson River. And the values the festival celebrates – simple living, communal music-making and responsible stewardship of the Earth — will forever be associated with Seeger, the folk musician ("Turn! Turn! Turn!" "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?") and social activist who left a huge imprint on the culture.

So in a real sense, there will never be a Clearwater Festival without the Seegers.

"This festival is all about celebrating the legacies of Pete and Toshi," says festival director Steve Lurie. "The attitude here is not mournful, it's celebratory. I actually envision it as a New Orleans Second Line funeral."

In New Orleans, as you may know, the departed are launched into the next world with a joyous jazz-band parade. And the Clearwater Festival – proper name, the Great Hudson River Revival – certainly has the musical talent to give the Seegers a whale of a sendoff. But whatever tributes happen this weekend, tuneful or otherwise, expect them to be seemly, Lurie says.

"They were very modest people, and they didn't even want to be known as the founders of Clearwater," Lurie says. "They always stood in the background; it was never about them. I think if we did something overt, like having their face on a T-shirt with the dates, for instance, that's something they wouldn't have appreciated. We want to honor them in a tasteful way."

This year, the 508-acre Croton Point Park on the Hudson waterfront will feature the usual mix of music, food, fun and consciousness-raising: seven stages ("all biodiesel or solar powered," Lurie says) with 100 music acts, a "handcrafter village" with 60 to 70 artisans, a "Green Living Expo," kid activities and rides on boats, kayaks and tall ships that include the famous sloop Clearwater, symbol of environmental cleanup. "This whole thing started in the 1960s as a fundraiser to build the sloop Clearwater," Lurie says.

Special activities

But there will also be a couple of special activities in commemoration of the Seegers. A special square dance, "because that's how they met," Lurie says. A program of songs Seeger wrote for the Spanish Civil War volunteers of the 1930s. And just about all of the performers are likely to mention the Seegers, or pay tribute to them in one way or other. Certainly, Trischka will.

"I think his absence will inform a lot of what we do," Trischka says. "Any sing-along that happens, that will be because of Pete. Cleaning up after the festival, that's because of Pete."

His own appearance at the festival, 2:15 p.m. Saturday on the Sloop Stage, will be more Pete-centric than most. "A Banjo Tribute to Pete" is a workshop featuring musicians Trischka, Tom Chapin, Cathy Fink, Travis Jeffrey and Guy Davis (mourning his own recent death in the family: Actress Ruby Dee was his mother). "We'll all sing a Pete song, or a song associated with Pete," Trischka says.

His own connection with Seeger goes back more than 30 years – or more than 50, if you consider that Seeger's book "How to Play the 5-String Banjo" influenced him mightily when he was 13. They actually met in the 1980s, and Trischka (himself a Grammy nominee) had been tight with him ever since. He'll be doing another Seeger event June 27 in Washington, D.C.: the "Smithsonian Folkways Tribute to Pete Seeger, Citizen Artist."

Trischka was with Seeger in January when he played what was, likely, his last tune. At any rate, Seeger was rushed to the hospital the next day.